Ryanair has announced 18 new routes from Dublin to Europe today as it effectively makes Dublin Airport its 16th European base.
The new routes will fly to Marseille, Nantes and La Rochelle in France; Baden (Stuttgart) and Hamburg in Germany; Krakow, Poznan and Wroclaw in Poland; Milan and Venice in Italy; Gothenburg and Malmo in Sweden; Valencia in Spain; Porto in Portugal; Salzburg in Austria; Bratislava in Slovakia; Kaunas in Lithuania and Humberside in the UK.
From April, the airline will base five new planes in Dublin. The airline says this will generate over 250 direct Ryanair jobs at the Dublin airport. It says this additional capacity will see Ryanair's traffic at Dublin Airport grow to 7 million passengers a year.
The airline will also increase frequencies on eight existing Dublin-Europe routes. These include Dublin to Frankfurt, Barcelona, Faro, Malaga, Carcassonne, Biarritz and Lodz.
'This is a momentous day for Ryanair, the Dublin Airport Authority and Irish tourism. This is the largest ever single investment in Irish tourism,' commented Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's CEO. 'The five new aircraft to be based in Dublin represent an investment of over $300m,' he added.
The new aircraft will be based at the new temporary boarding facility, which will be available at Dublin Airport from the end of next May. The new planes will operate from the new Pier D facility when opened in the summer of 2007.
Ryanair also said it would now be 'working closely' with the DAA to ensure that the airport's new facilities were developed on time and within budget. The DAA welcomed Ryanair's commitment to work with the company and its support for the 'alleviating measures' the airport had to take until significant new capacity became available.
Shares in Ryanair closed up 18 cent to €8.08 in Dublin.
